8 tips for preventing long-term disability in workers

As Australia’s hundreds of thousands of tradies settle back into work for 2015, the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) is urging employers and workers to make health and safety a priority to reduce the $60 billion spent on work injuries each year.

Now is the time to review occupational health and safety procedures to ensure a safe year ahead, said APA National President and physiotherapist Marcus Dripps. “While workplace injuries are on the decline, each year we spend billions of dollars on work-related injury and illnesses, many of which should be prevented. And tradies are among those highest at risk,” Dripps said.

“This is the time of year to review your safety procedures, retrain and educate your staff, develop a supportive return to work culture, and make sure you’ve got the best measures in place to prevent injuries,” said Dripps.

Research shows one in five serious workplace-related injuries involve a tradie. Sprains and strains (42%) and musculoskeletal disorders (14%) are also the two highest work-related injury or disease claims, with body stress (40%) being one of the prime cause for these injuries. Tradies are also among one of the largest proportions of occupations with the highest incidence of early retirement.

“If you do injure yourself, our message is simple: stop ignoring aches and pains and seek treatment immediately,” Dripps said. “Often we’ll see tradies with injuries that could’ve been managed well before they became serious. It’s unfortunately a common mentality of the sector that needs to change.”

The APA is urging trade workplaces to make health and safety a priority and confirm their involvement in Tradies National Health Month for 2015 via www.tradieshealth.com.au.

Dripps has also shared the APA’s tips for preventing long-term disability and work loss through:

1. Intervening early and identifying needs: Seeing a health professional like an APA physiotherapist is important for identifying the injury, seeking initial treatment and referring to appropriate management immediately.
2. Evaluating and treating clinically: Clinically evaluating and providing a range of physiotherapy treatments can potentially reduce disability and promote return to activity, including work.
3. Focusing on early return to work and work maintenance outcomes: Research shows greater return to work success with programs that include workplace arrangements aimed at facilitating return to work.
4. Developing a supportive workplace culture: Studies on people six months post-surgery have shown the rate of return to work was nearly twice as high for workers who perceived a higher level of ‘people-oriented culture’ in the workplace and higher safety culture including ‘active safety leadership’.
5. Developing targeted education and self-managed active rehabilitation: Providing active rehabilitation, such as graded physical exercise, and resuming activities workers may have stopped also helps. Physiotherapists are well placed to inform, educate, guide and support the worker to restore function and achieve timely and effective return to work.
6. Integrating into the workplace: The best return to work results come from incorporating the program into the workplace and providing worksite ergonomic assessments. Workplace interventions lead to almost two and a half times faster results for returning to work.
7. Monitoring and reviewing regularly: Monitoring and reviewing the worker’s progress against return to work goals and risk factors is important. Physiotherapists can match suitable duties to the worker’s capabilities and implement regular upgrading of work hours and suitable duties to assist in recovery.
8. Evaluating the outcomes: It’s important to evaluate the results and incorporate what’s been learnt into workplace occupational health and safety programs to prevent similar incidences occurring.